REFiT Aging Research Group, Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili and Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain.
SAFE Research Group, Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Sciences Blanquerna, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain.
Age Ageing. 2023 Dec 1;52(12). doi: 10.1093/ageing/afad227.
Different remote interventions, such as applications (apps), have been used to continue promoting healthy ageing and preventing disability during the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing trend of apps in health is exponential and may facilitate scaling up physical activity prescription. Numerous tools are available, but little is known regarding their appropriateness, validation and recommendation, especially for frail older adults.
In-house, we developed an application that makes both the Apple app Store and the Google Play Store searchable using topic-related keywords and facilitates the extraction of basic app-information of the search results. The study was aimed at apps available to an English-speaking market. The resulting apps were filtered using various inclusion and exclusion criteria. The resultant apps underwent a more in-depth characterisation and searches for scientific publications on each app website and PubMed.
From an initial search result of >2,800 apps, 459 met the initial inclusion criteria. After a more in-depth review of their features, 39 apps remained for possible app in older frail patients. After testing them, 22 apps were excluded. Seventeen apps fit the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were deemed appropriate after peer review. Of these, only one app, Vivifrail, had any type of publication/published evidence.
Apps can be valuable tool in prescribing exercise for frail older adults living in the community. However, few apps seem useful on a large scale, and there is limited evidence to support their effectiveness. It is important to invest in adapting Information and Communication Technologies to this population group.
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，不同的远程干预措施，如应用程序（apps），已被用于继续促进健康老龄化和预防残疾。健康领域应用程序的增长趋势呈指数级增长，可能有助于扩大体育活动的处方。有许多工具可用，但对于体弱的老年人来说，它们的适当性、验证和推荐知之甚少。
我们内部开发了一个应用程序，可以使用与主题相关的关键字在苹果应用商店和谷歌应用商店中进行搜索，并方便提取搜索结果的基本应用信息。该研究针对的是面向英语市场的应用程序。使用各种包含和排除标准对生成的应用程序进行过滤。然后对生成的应用程序进行更深入的描述，并在每个应用程序网站和 PubMed 上搜索有关该应用程序的科学出版物。
从最初的 >2800 个应用程序搜索结果中，有 459 个符合最初的纳入标准。在更深入地审查其功能后，有 39 个应用程序仍可用于体弱的老年患者。经过测试，有 22 个应用程序被排除在外。有 17 个应用程序符合纳入和排除标准，并经过同行评审后被认为是合适的。在这些应用程序中，只有一个名为 Vivifrail 的应用程序有任何类型的出版物/发表的证据。
应用程序可以成为为居住在社区中的体弱老年人开运动处方的有价值的工具。然而，似乎很少有应用程序在大规模使用上有用，而且几乎没有证据支持它们的有效性。重要的是要投资于为这一人群组适应信息和通信技术。
